Joanna Pitt has a strong, solid voice with a very subtle vibrato.  She makes it easy for  people who enjoy hearing the melody lines to come away completely satisfied.

In a show focusing on the music of the duo known as Carpenters, Pitt stuck close to the original melodies and, singing in Karen Carpenter’s key and with similar arrangements, she recreated the singer’s distinctive sound — seemingly without trying.  But that’s a positive because the songs are, generally, so wonderful — and Pitt had excellent backing from Todd Schroeder as pianist, Musical Director and background singer and from Jack LeCompte on drums.

The only time Pitt abandoned the Karen Carpenter sound was in her encore, “I Won’t Last a Day Without You” (Roger Nichols/Paul Williams), which featured a more distinctive contemporary sound. Another standout, ironically, was “If I Had You” (Stephen Dorff Gary Harju/ Larry Herbstritt) from an album Karen Carpenter recorded on her own, apart from her brother and the Carpenters’ sound. The song had a harder edge and a sharper beat, and Pitt sang it with believable intensity.

Though she struggled a bit with the melody of “Hurting Each Other” (Gary Geld/Peter Udell), Pitt was spot-on in most other numbers, particularly “We’ve Only Just Begun” (Nichols/Williams) and “Goodbye to Love” (Richard Carpenter/John Bettis). Her innate sweetness came across during a medley of early Carpenters’ covers, which combined “Johnny Angel” (Lyn Duddy/Lee Pockriss), “Please Mr. Postman” (Georgia Dobbins/William Garrett/Freddie Gorman/Brian Holland/Robert Bateman) and “Ticket to Ride” (John Lennon/Paul McCartney).

Another medley, which displayed the distinctive Carpenters sound, included “For All We Know” (Fred Karlin/Robb Wilson/James Griffin), “Rainy Days and Mondays” (Nichols/Williams) and “Yesterday Once More” (Carpenter/Bettis).

With the audience humming along on many familiar songs, Pitt gave them a chance to sing along on “Sing” (Joe Raposo) — and with so many excellent vocals, she gave the audience good reason to cheer at the end of the show.

Elliot Zwiebach
Cabaret Scenes
March 19, 2010
www.cabaretscenes.org